csua.org/u/lut -> www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070202502.html
Residents of Medellin Describe Rescue as 'Incredible, Absolutely Incredible' Patrons of the Laurels Billiard Club in Medellin, Colombia, sat engrossed by television coverage of the rescue of 15 hostages from FARC captivity. Upstairs from the bar are the offices of the Mothers of the Candelaria, a support group for families of missing people in Colombia's long-running civil war. For volunteer Luis Alfonso Quiros, the story of the rescue hit home.
CLOSE Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site.
View Only Top Items in This Story In what Colombian officials called an elaborate ruse, commandos deceived a rebel unit entrusted with the prized hostages into turning them over in a grassy field deep in southeastern Guaviare province. The prisoners, who included 11 Colombian soldiers, were then flown to freedom in what amounted to a powerful blow to a fast-waning insurgency. By late afternoon, the hostages were transported to the main military air base in Bogota, the Colombian capital, where they were reunited with relatives as a military band played the national anthem. Betancourt, wearing a floppy jungle hat, the kind of flimsy rubber boots worn by guerrillas, and a white flower in her braided hair, stepped off a plane and into the waiting arms of her mother, Yolanda Pulecio. She then addressed well-wishers in comments carried on national television, praising Colombia's military for "an impeccable operation." Such a perfect operation is unprecedented," said Betancourt, 46, an author and former presidential candidate taken prisoner by rebels in 2002.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, hoped to trade for hundreds of their imprisoned comrades. Using Colombia's vast and rugged terrain to its advantage, the FARC has for years taken its prisoners deep into the jungle and threatened to kill them if the military attempted a rescue.
The FARC took them hostage after their surveillance plane crashed in rebel territory. George Gonsalves, father of Marc Gonsalves, said he had been on the front lawn of his home in Connecticut when his next-door neighbor came rushing out of her kitchen door, waving her arms to tell her about the news she had just seen on television.
A breathless Lynne Stansell, Keith Stansell's mother, said by phone that her family was overwhelmed by the early reports. "Some people are coming to help us handle this," she said, when reached by phone at her Florida home.
Nicolas Sarkozy, who had campaigned vigorously for Betancourt's release, declared the "end of an ordeal that lasted for more than six years." Halfway around the world, in the Colombian city of Medellin, television coverage was nonstop.
In Colombia, Hostage's Letter Hits Home BOGOTA, Colombia -- It was a godsend, the 12-page letter that Ingrid Betancourt sent her mother. It confirmed that the best-known hostage in Colombia, one of hundreds, was alive, deep in a guerrilla encampment.
|
http://csua.com/feed/